Thursday, July 28, 2011

Anecdote Wisdom

ANECDOTES WITH MORALS

. Desire to Excel: A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?” “No” said the sculptor without looking up “We need only one, but the first one got damaged almost at the last stage”. The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch on the nose of the idol” said the sculptor, still busy with his work. “Where are you going to install the idol?’ asked the visitor. The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a platform 20 feet high. “If the idol is that far, who is going to notice that there is a scratch on the nose?” the visitor asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said “I will know it”. The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone notices it or not

All Life is Yoga—Aurobindo: Centuries ago when the famous Sun Temple at Konarak was under construction, its founder King Narasimha Deva used to put on a light disguise to supervise the work. One day he stood behind a labourer cutting a slab of stone and asked him “What are you doing my friend?”. The man, rather annoyed, answered “Can’t you see that I am cutting stone? Did I seem to be dancing or singing?” The king quietly moved on to the next labourer and put the same question to him. “Well, I am only earning my daily wage” he said. The king saw two others engaged in the same job. For a similar question, the third man said “I am obeying the royal order, of course “was his answer. But when the king stood behind the fourth man and put the same question, he almost broke into ecstasy and said “How lucky I am to be participating in the preparation for invoking the Sun God upon our earth!” Needless to say that the fourth labourer was also cutting stones, earning his wage and obeying royal order; but he was doing much more. He was doing Yoga by offering his action to the Sublime. That is why the Bhagavadgitha declares “Yogah Vruttishu Kaushalam” which means ‘Yoga is only excellence in whatever you do’

Do not covet other man’s wealth: Chanakya was the mentor of King Chandra Gupta Maurya but was living in a cottage. When once a visitor was to meet him on some private work, Chanakya was engaged in State affairs and working under the light of a big candle. On seeing the visitor, he put off the candle before him and lighted a new small candle. The surprised visitor asked Chanakya as to what was the need for putting off a burning candle and lighting a new one. Chanakya said that the candle he was using belonged to the state and he was then working on something related to the state affairs. Now that he had to meet a private visitor, he had no right to use the government candle for his personal work and so he put it out. That is why Acharya Shankara in his ‘Bhaja Govindam’ says “Vittam Tena Vinodaya Chittam” which means ‘Enjoy only that which rightfully belongs to you’.

Where there is a will there is a way: An old man lived alone in Memphis. He wanted to spade his potato garden but it was hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his and mentioned the situation:

“Dear son, I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I have to miss doing the garden, even though your mother always loved planting time. I am just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If only you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me if you weren’t in prison. Love, Dad “

In those troubled days, all letters from the inmates of the jail were censored by the Government. Shortly, the old man received this telegram: “For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden. That is where I buried the guns!”. At 4 A.M. the next day, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug the entire garden without finding any guns. Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened and asked him what to do next. His son’s reply was “Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad. That is the best I could do for you from here”

Never forget the roots of your origin: Long back there was a Persian king whose Prime Minister was one by name Dara, a person of impeccable character, honesty and integrity. Knowing full well that he was an ordinary shepherd before he became the PM, the King had employed him on account of his intelligence and integrity. The courtiers were jealous of him and hatched out a conspiracy to get him out. They told the king “This man behaves suspiciously. He goes to a lonely far off place at the end of every day. He must be stealing precious jewels from the palace and storing them there”. One day the king followed him incognito. Dara went to that lonely place, shut the door. Through the key hole, the King saw him remove the royal robe, put on a torn rug lying inside a trunk, keep back the rug, put on the royal robe again, lock the door and get out. Surprised at this, when the King asked him about this peculiar behavior, the PM replied “Sir, this royal robe will continue as long as I am in your favour. The moment it is withdrawn I should return to my old profession and that is why I come here everyday to remind myself of my humble origin as a shepherd”

In a Lighter Vein: A flamboyant and quixotic Sultan had a harem with a bevy of beauties at quite a distance from the palace. Late at night whenever he felt having fun with one of them, he used to send his only trusted servant with his Rickshaw to bring one of them. As the servant knew that Master would lose his cool even with a minute’s delay, he used to literally run to the harem to fetch the girl. Unfortunately, while the Sultan enjoyed his favourite pastime with girls for 6 years, the servant died within three tears. Moral of the story: It is not the girls who kill you, but the running after them

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About Me

Note From Alladi Jayasri: Your articles are a great source of succor and in a way they are a search engine, like Google. I have learnt many interesting things and many of your articles have sparked off the most interesting inquiries into philosophy and mythology- mostly mythology of course, because I love stories!!
Hence this blog